Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou confirms he’ll leave Lucas Neill out of World Cup squad

LUCAS Neill may have played his last game for Australia after coach Ange Postecoglou told the defender he would not be in the World Cup squad.

LUCAS Neill may have played his last game for the Socceroos after coach Ange Postecoglou told the defender he would not be selected for the 2014 World Cup squad.

But stuck on 96 caps a stubborn Neill has vowed to fight on, refusing to retire as he bids to make a miraculous comeback at for next January’s Asian Cup in Australia.

Neill’s omission leaves Crystal Palace captain Mile Jedinak in pole position to claim the armband after leading the team against Ecuador in March, while Tim Cahill will also be considered.

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Lucas Neill’s World Cup dreams are over. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

The highly-anticipated 30-man squad — eventually trimmed to 23 — is released next Wednesday (May 14) in Sydney but regeneration is in full swing after the recent retirements of Mark Schwarzer and Brett Holman.

Postecoglou revealed he would’ve preferred to have informed Neill in person over a phone call late Monday night, but paid tribute to his determination and said four months without a club ultimately cost him.

AFTER a long and enjoyable debut season, we bring you the final episode of the Fox Football Podcast. Adam Peacock and Brenton Speed are joined in the studio by Fox Sports News football correspondent Richard Bayliss to dissect the A-League decider, while Daniel Garb, fresh from Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Selhurst Park, discuss all the news from the EPL. The boys also discuss which Socceroos defenders should go to the World Cup.

“It was difficult, he’s worked damn hard to try and get himself ready and available,’’ Postecoglou said.

“I had to make a decision, not so much about recent history, but the last six months in terms of form and fitness there just wasn’t enough evidence there for me to say he’d be able to hold up in World Cup.

Ange Postecoglou (L) broke the bad news to Neill over the phone. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

“It was a combination of a lack of regular football and a few little niggles he got that made the decision for me.

“He’s shown enormous determination to get to this World Cup, it’s a credit to him, you can see why he has played for his country as many times as he has and why he was a leader because he’s certainly gone down fighting.

“He was very disappointed but acknowledged the fact it was a decision I had to make.

“I’m paying due respect to the fact he’s been captain for six years and captain of the World Cup campaign so far, it was right I told him personally.

Lucas Neill captained Australia in a friendly against Costa Rica after Ange Postecoglou took charge. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

“It’s a decision that weighed heavily on me, wanted to make sure I was absolutely clear on the premise of my decision.

“My discussions with him were purely about the World Cup and he had every intention of continuing to play on probably in Europe.’’

Neill, who turned 36 in March, signed with Watford at the end February but after just seven minutes and four more games as an unused sub he engineered a loan deal to Doncaster Rovers a month later.

Neill signed with Doncaster Rovers in a desperate bid to make the World Cup squad.

A hamstring strain consigned him to just four games, only returning for last week’s loss to Leicester which relegated them to League One.

With Rhys Williams (Achilles) injured, Curtis Good (hip flexor) and Trent Sainsbury (knee) having not played since March and February respectively, Australia’s defensive stocks look wafer-thin but Postecoglou wouldn’t be drawn on other players.

“He (Neill) was a bit unlucky in terms of some of the moves he made, from January onwards if he had four months of football under his belt, I guess a different decision would’ve been made,’’ he said.

“I’ll be selecting a squad I believe will fulfill the goals we’ve got for this World Cup and perform at the levels required.’’

After much conjecture Neill retained the captaincy after being picked in Postecoglou’s first squad last November for the Costa Rica friendly, but was omitted for the Ecuador game last March.

Originally published as Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou confirms he’ll leave Lucas Neill out of World Cup squad